Social criticism toward victorian society`s perspective on unmarried mother as revealed in the characteristics of ruth - USD Repository
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SOCIAL CRITICISM TOWARD VICTORIAN SOCIETY’S
PERSPECTIVE ON UNMARRIED MOTHER
AS REVEALED IN THE CHARACTERISTICS OF RUTH
IN ELIZABETH GASKELL’S RUTH
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
In English Letters
By
NOVITA BUDI LESTARI
Student Number: 054214029
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2011 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
SOCIAL CRITICISM TOWARD VICTORIAN SOCIETY’S
PERSPECTIVE ON UNMARRIED MOTHER
AS REVEALED IN THE CHARACTERISTICS OF RUTH
IN ELIZABETH GASKELL’S RUTH
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
In English Letters
By
NOVITA BUDI LESTARI
Student Number: 054214029
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2011
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This undergraduate thesis is dedicated to My mother And my beloved Zombie Cat
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am thankful to my undergraduate thesis advisor, Tatang Iskarna S.S., M. Hum and my thesis co-advisor, Dr. F. X. Siswadi M. A, whose guidance is very helpful for me in understanding the topic better and finishing this undergraduate thesis. I am very grateful to all lecturers, including my academic advisor Dra. Theresia Enny Anggraini M.A, who had given me knowledge and guidance during my study.
I want to give my big gratitude to my parents who support me spiritually and financially so that I can finally finish my study. I also thank my best friends: Rosalia Erta P, Vincentia Putri Kusumaningtyas, Tyas Putri Pamungkas, Ayu Saputri Puji Andarini, Krisensiana Christia Flory, Doni Agung Setiawan, Agaton Hutama, and many others, for so many great times that we had in Sanata Dharma.
My special gratitude goes to my beloved Zombie Cat, Bayu Aribowo. Thank you so much for your support and never ending love.
Last but not least, I thank all people that I cannot mention here one by one for no matter what form of support that you gave to me.
Novita Budi Lestari v
TABLE OF CONTENTS TITLE PAGE ........................................................................................................... i
APPROVAL PAGE ................................................................................................. ii
ACCEPTANCE PAGE ........................................................................................... iii
DEDICATION PAGE ............................................................................................. iv
ACKNOWLEDGMENT .. ....................................................................................... v
TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................ vi
ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................. vii
ABSTRAK ................................................................................................................ viii
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................... 1
A. Background of the Study .............................................................................. 1B. Problem Formulation .................................................................................... 5
C. Objectives of the Study ................................................................................ 5
D. Definition of Terms ...................................................................................... 6
CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW ......................................................... 8
A. Review of Related Studies ........................................................................... 8 B. Review of Related Theories ......................................................................... 11C. Review on History About Victorian Society and Woman in
Victorian Society .......................................................................................... 14 D. Theoretical Framework ................................................................................ 19CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ...................................................................... 21
A. Object of the Study ...................................................................................... 21 B. Approach of the Study ................................................................................. 22 C. Method of the Study .................................................................................... 23CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS ................................................................................... 25
A. The Description of the Character of Ruth .................................................... 25B. The Character of Ruth as Social Criticism Toward Victorian Society’s
Perspective on Unmarried Mother ................................................................34CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION .............................................................................. 51
BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................... 55APPENDIX ................................................................................................................ 57
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ABSTRACT
NOVITA BUDI LESTARI. Social Criticism toward Victorian Society’s
Perspective on Unmarried Mother as Revealed in the Character of Ruth in
Elizabeth Gaskell’s Ruth. Yogyakarta, Department of English Letters, Faculty of
Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2011.
Ruth, written by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, is a novel about social
condition in England which can be included as the part of Victorian society. This novel represents Victorian society’s perspective on unmarried mother and also some treatments given by the society to her.
This undergraduate thesis consists of two research problem. The first problem is how the character of Ruth is described in the story. The second problem is how the character of Ruth reveals social criticism toward Victorian society’s perspective on unmarried mother.
The writer used library research as the method of this study. The books were about related studies of characters, theory of literature and society, the history of Victorian society and unmarried mother in Victorian society, and the novel itself. The most suitable approach applied is socio-historical approach. This approach is applied here because it is the most appropriate one to answer the questions stated in the problem formulation. By using this approach, the writer wants to compare the situation in the novel with the actual condition in Victorian society at that time.
In the analysis, the writer concluded that the characteristics of Ruth are media found in the story to criticize Victorian society. The criticism itself can be divided into two different criticisms. The first criticism is the ignorance of Christianity value of forgiving found in the Victorian society’s perspective on unmarried mother. Victorian society is known as a very religious society that believes in Christianity. Although it is so, the society’s perspective on unmarried mother makes the society ignore the Christianity value of forgiving. It is something improper to ignore the value that they believe in deeply. The second criticism is about the hypocrisy found in Victorian society’s perspective on unmarried mother. Victorian society is known as the society that looks down on unmarried mother because of her social status. It is said to be hypocrisy because one a woman hold a status as an unmarried mother, all of her good standard will never be seen by the society anymore although it used to be acknowledged before. It is then found to be improper to look down on unmarried mother and not give a chance for her to be better just because of her social status. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
ABSTRAK
NOVITA BUDI LESTARI. Social Criticism toward Victorian Society’s
Perspective on Unmarried Mother as Revealed in the Character of Ruth in
Elizabeth Gaskell’s Ruth. Yogyakarta, Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra,
Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2011.
Ruth yang ditulis oleh Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell adalah sebuah novel
tentang kondisi social di Inggris, yang juga bisa dikategorikan sebagai bagian dari masyarakat era Victoria. Novel ini menggambarkan cara pandang masyarakat era Victoria terhadap wanita dengan anak di luar nikah dan juga sebagian perlakuan yang diberikan oleh masyarakat terhadapnya.
Skripsi ini membahas dua pokok permasalahan. Pertama adalah bagaimana karakter Ruth dijelaskan di dalam novel. Kedua adalah bagaimana Ruth menjadi perwujudan kritik sosial pada pandangan masyarakat era Victoria terhadap wanita dengan anak di luar nikah.
Penulis menggunakan studi pustaka sebagai metode penelitian untuk skripsi ini. Buku-buku yang digunakan adalah buku tentang studi karakter, buku teori literatur dan masyarakat, sejarah masyarakat pada masa Victoria dan pandangannya tentang wanita dengan anak di luar nikah, dan juga novel itu sendiri. Pendekatan yang digunakan adalah pendekatan sosio-historis karena pendekatan tersebut dianggap paling cocok untuk menjawab pokok permasalahan yang diangkat di dalam skripsi ini. Dengan pendekatan ini, penulis ingin membandingkan keadaan di dalam novel dengan kondisi masyarakat di era Victoria yang sebenarnya.
Pada bagian analisa, penulis menyimpulkan bahwa sifat Ruth adalah media di dalam cerita yang digunakan untuk mengkritik masyarakat era Victoria. Ada dua kritisi yang didapat di dalam novel ini. Pertama adalah tentang diabaikannya ajaran Kritiani tentang memaafkan yang ditemukan pada cara pandang masyarakat era Victoria terhadad wanita yang hamil di luar nikah. Masyarakat pada masa Victoria terkenal sangat religius dengan Kristen sebagai agamanya. Meski begitu, cara mereka memandang dan memperlakukan wanita dengan anak di luar nikah mencerminkan perilaku yang justru nertolak belakang dengan salah satu nilai agama Kristen yaitu tentang memaafkan yang lain. Di dalam novel, ditemukan bahwa mengabaikan nilai suatu ajaran yang sangat dipercayai adalah sesuatu yang tidak pantas. Kedua adalah mengenai kemunafikan yang ditemukan pada cara masyarakat era Victoria memandang wanita dengan anak di luar nikah. Masyarakat era Victoria memandang rendah tipikal wanita seperti itu karena karena status sosialnya sebagai wanita yang tidak menikah. Hal ini dikatakan sebagai suatu kemunafikan karena saat seorang wanita mempunya status social sebagain wanita yang mempunyai anak di luar nikah, semua nilai bagus yang ia miliki sebagai seorang wanita tidak akan diakui lagi walaupun sebelumnya nilai-nilai itu diakui oleh masyarakat. Memmandang rendah wanita seperti itu dan tidak memberikan dia kesempatan menjadi orang yang lebih baik hanya karena status sosialnya adalah sesuatu yang juga tidak pantas. viii PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study A society usually consists of a group of people who live together in the
same area. People who become part of society usually have different ways of thinking and have different ways in observing and evaluating things which occurs in the society where they live as well. The different points of view between one person and another or between a group of people and another group of people in a society often become the base of social problem which is also a part of any society. It is why social problem is a very common thing happens in every society in all over the world.
People as members of society have different points of view in observing and dealing with social problem which occurs in the society where they live.
Some of them are aware of it and some others are not. Those who give their attention to problem occurs in their society and aware of it share their thoughts in many ways. For example, they write some works of literature to let people know their points of view about problem which happens in their society. The points of view can also be said as a mean to criticize something which they think to be inappropriate in their society.
Edgar V. Robert and Henry E. Jacob, in their book Fiction, an
Introduction to Reading and Writing, state their opinion about some values of
literature.1
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It can help us to shape our judgment through the constant comparison of the good against the bad. It enables us, both in our everyday activities and in the decision we are responsible as citizens, to develop a perspective on the events that are occurring in the world (1987: 3)
Based on the opinion of Robert and Jacob about the values of literature above, it can be said that literature can be used as a tool to teach people to decide whether something is good or bad. Besides, it also enables people to develop their point of view toward something which happens in the society, such as social problem as stated previously.
Since a work of literature is created by someone, an author for example, there is another conclusion can be drawn from the statement of Robert and Jacob above. By creating a work of literature, an author states his opinion about something happening in the society. Based on this fact, it can also be said that an author of a literary work can state his opinion about something which seems to be wrong according to his point of view in the literary work that he creates. This opinion can be delivered in a form of criticism toward something which seems to be wrong or improper. It is later on used by the reader as a mean of consideration to help them giving their point of view toward something. It makes the revelation of criticism toward something happens in a certain society in a work of literature to be interesting to do.
Ruth, a novel written by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, is a good example of
work of literature which contains about social criticism toward something happened in Victorian society. It is the second novel of Gaskell. Before it, she wrote Mary Barton, in the year of 1847. Ruth, (1853), however, is perhaps deliberately evasive and shadowy about both the town of Eccleston in which
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much of its action takes place and about the dates of the twelve years its narrative spans (Gaskell, ed. Nancy Henry, 2001: xxiii)
Ruth tells a story about a young orphan named Ruth Hilton. In the age of sixteen, she became a mistress of a man of a respectable family named Mr.
Bellingham, who was fascinated by her beauty. In the next part of the story, Mr. Bellingham left her alone and pregnant in North Wales, a place where she did not have anyone to hold on. Later on, she was rescued by Mr. Benson and his sister, Miss Faith, people that she never knows before. They took her to Eccleston, and give her a place to live. Here, Ruth changed her identity to Mrs. Denbigh on the suggestion given by Mr. Benson and Miss Faith. Although she was in doubt at first, she finally agreed to change her identity to avoid people’s harsh judgment and comment about Ruth’s status as an unmarried mother.
In reality at that time, the Victorian society considered unmarried mother as a very shameful person. It is stated by Tregidgo in his book A Background to
English.
The shame attached to becoming mother before being married. If this does occur, a quick marriage is often arranged with the man responsible. If this is impossible, the officer may bring considerable shame to the girl’s parents as well as to herself, and they sometimes arrange to have the child legally adopted elsewhere (Tregidgo, 1971: 37 – 38)
In the story, the character of Ruth was created as an unmarried mother who preferred to change her identity so that she could keep her illegitimate child and live with him in a respectable society, which is no other but the representation of Victorian society.
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In this study, the writer used the character of Ruth as the main focus. The status of Ruth as an unmarried mother and how she acted as a part of a respectable society, which actually would never receive the existence of unmarried mother among them, are the main points of the observation done by the writer. By observing this, the writer tried to reveal the social criticism toward Victorian society’s perspective on unmarried mother from the character of Ruth Hilton, who was created in such a way by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell.
In present life, unmarried mother is a controversial subject which still appears in some societies in the world. It is sometimes also considered to be social problem since people have different points of view toward the existence of unmarried mother in their society. Although some people seem to be fine with unmarried mother, many others are not. Moreover, they often give harsh comments to the unmarried mother. The comments seem to limit the space of any unmarried mother, who is actually part of the society as well.
The example of people’s comment or point of view toward unmarried mother can be seen in an article posted in Pinknews.co.uk entitled “Senator asked to apologize for saying gay people and unmarried mothers shouldn’t teach”. This article tells about a senator who was asked to make apologize because he said something which seemed to hurt some people’s feeling in a debate which was broadcasted. In the debate, the senator said “I don’t think they should. We need the folks that are teaching in schools to represent our values.” <http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2010/10/06/senator-asked-to-apologise-for-saying-
th
gay-people-and-unmarried-mothers-shouldnt-teach/> (February, 27 , 2011)
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The experience of Ruth as an unmarried mother who was rejected by the society where she lived is a thing that can be found in many societies in nowadays. The experience of unmarried mothers who are banned to teach because they are considered to be unable to represent the value of teacher because of their status as unmarried mothers, as stated in the example above, is actually the same with the experience of Ruth described in the story when she is fired as a governess because she is unmarried .
The revelation of social criticism toward the Victorian Society’s perspective on unmarried mother makes the topic of this study interesting and worth studying. The writer hopes that the reader will get some benefits after reading this paper.
B. Problem Formulation
There are two problems formulated by the writer related to the background of the study in the previous part. The problems are stated in the following.
1. How is the character of Ruth described in the story?
2. How does the character of Ruth reveal social criticism toward Victorian society’s perspective on unmarried mother?
C. Objectives of the Study
The objectives of the study on Ruth are mainly to answer the problems formulated in the previous part. Firstly, the analysis of the study tries to identify the character of Ruth as the main character of the story. Secondly, the analysis
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tries to reveal the social criticism toward the Victorian society’s perspective on unmarried mother by observing the character of Ruth and comparing it with the reality at that time.
D. Definition of Terms
There are three terms that are used by the writer to make the reader understand the study better. The terms are ‘Social Criticism’, ‘Victorian Society’, and ‘Unmarried Mother’.
1. Social Criticism
Social criticism is a criticism which analyses social structures which are seen as flawed and aims at practical solutions by specifics measures, radical reform or even revolutionary change. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_criticism> (7 December 2010)
2. Victorian Society
Victorian society is a society of Victorian Era which was governed under the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901). It is also known as the time when people who lived in that society highly valued sexual purity of women. That was why the society never tolerated the existence of unmarried mothers who are not pure as women because they have child out of wedlock. In this study, the writer only focuses on England Victorian society since the setting of the novel mostly takes place in Eccleston, United Kingdom.
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3. Unmarried Mother
According to Percy Gamble Kammerer in his book The Unmarried
Mother, a Study of Five Hundreds Cases, unmarried mother is ‘a girl or woman
gives birth to a child outside of lawful wedlock’. (Kammerer, 1918: 1)
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CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW A. Review on Related Studies In this part of the study, the writer tries to review some related studies by
previous writers or researchers on the same work, topic or author. These related studies are very helpful for the writer in doing this study.
The author of Ruth, Elizabeth Gaskell became a writer in 1847. Nancy Henry in the introduction of Ruth gives short history of Gaskell’s life.
ELIZABETH CLEGHORN GASKELL was born in Chelsea, London, on
29 September 1810. Her father William Stevenson, who had been a Unitarian preacher, was a clerk and also a journalist at this time. After the death of her mother, when Elizabeth was a year old, she was sent to Knutsford in Cheshire (the town upon which Cranford is modelled) where she was brought up by her aunt, Hannah Lumb, and where she attended the Misses Byerleys’ school in Warwickshire 1821 – 6. In 1832, she married William Gaskell, a minister at Cross Street Unitarian Chapel, Manchester.
The Gaskells had five children, the only son William dying before he was a year old in 1845. To alleviate her grief, Mrs Gaskell began writing fiction: her first stories appeared in Howitt’s Journal in 1847 (2001: ix) Her second novel Ruth was firstly published by Chapman and Hall in
London, 1853. Since the setting of time of this novel is in the nineteenth century of England, this novel is included as the Victorian Era’s novel. It tells story about the life in Victorian society. Maryell Cleary and Peter Hughes in Elizabeth
Gaskell, a biography of Elizabeth Gaskell, states that:
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The most controversial of Gaskell's novels, Ruth, 1853, tells of an unmarried woman who has a child. In it Gaskell pointed out the hypocrisy of a society which condones sexual adventures for men but condemns women for even a single slip. As the heroine was treated sympathetically by the author, the book was criticized severely. Some of her husband's parishioners burned their copies. <http://www25.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/elizabethgaskell.html> (10 November 2010)
The statement above shows that Ruth is a novel with controversial subject for people at that time because unmarried mother is the main focus in the story.
Cleary and Hughes also state that the Victorian society treats men and women differently related to their sexuality. The society would forgive men who have sexual adventures, but they would not do so to the women. The rejection of the society toward Gaskell’s second novel is shown in this biography by the action done by her husband's parishioners. This action shows that the society rejected Gaskell’s idea on unmarried mother shown in the novel, which seems to be made as a heroine who was praised by people in the society where she lives in the end of the story.
The writer of this study has the same idea with the statement above. However, the writer will observe deeper not on how men and women are treated differently related to their sexuality, but more on the analysis about a character of an unmarried mother unmarried mother who live in a respectable society. The final goal of this study is to reveal the social criticism toward Victorian society found in the novel which is related to the perspective of the society on unmarried mother.
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G. H. Lewes wrote a review about Ruth which was published in his weekly journal, Leader and collected in a book by Angus Easson entitled
Elizabeth Gaskell: The Critical Heritage. In this review, Lewes states a moral
value found in Ruth.In ‘Ruth’ there is no confusing of right with wrong; no tampering with perilous sympathies, no attempt to make a new line of action such as the world’s morality would refuse to warrant, but a clear insight into the nature of temptation, and wise words of exhortation to those who have fallen – showing them, that no matter what clouds of shame may have gathered around them, they may still redeem themselves if they will only rise and do honestly the work that still lies before them to be done, and that, in every position, however dark or degraded, there is always a certain right course which, if followed, will lead them once more into light (1991: 265-6)
Lewes says that Ruth contains advice for those who have the same experience with Ruth as the main character of the novel. The idea given by Lewes is similar to the writer’s idea, but in this study, the writer used the novel to reveal social criticism toward the society’s perspective on unmarried mother at that time.
The writer reviewed the related studies in order to compare this study with the previous studies and to show that this study is different from the previous ones. In this study, the character of Ruth is used to reveal social criticism toward Victorian society’s perspective on unmarried mother, especially England Victorian society because the setting of this novel mostly takes place in a town in United Kingdom (Eccleston). The writer revealed the criticism through the main character of the novel. Ruth Hilton, as an unmarried mother, is used as the focus of this study to reveal the criticism. The analysis will be different from the previous study, but it is still related for developing the studies.
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B. Review on Related Theories
In doing this study, the writer used two theories. Those theories are theory of character and theory about literature and society.
1. Theory of Character
Character is an important element in a literary works. They have an important role to bring the story to the reader. M. H. Abrams in his book entitled
A Glossary of Literary Terms explains that:
Characters are the person presented in a dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the reader as being endowed with oral, and emotional qualities that are expressed in what they say-the dialogue- and what they do-the action- (1985:23)
The statement above gives explanation that the reader of literary works can use character to help them understand the story through what the character says (the dialogue) and does (the action).
M. J. Murphy in his book Understanding Unseen: An Introduction to
English Poetry and the English Novel for Overseas Student gives some ways to
make the reader understand the character easily. It can also be said as a way to understand the characteristic of a character. Those ways are stated in the following.
a. Personal description Personal description is a person’s appearance and clothes described by the author.
b. Character as seen by another Character as seen by another is a description of a character which is given by another character(s) in the story.
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c. Speech Speech is what a character says. Whenever a person speaks, whenever he/she is in conversation with another, whenever he/she puts forward an opinion, he/she is giving us some clues to his/her character.
d. Past life Past life can be used as a clue to events that have helped shaping a person’s characteristic. This can be done by direct comments by the author, through the person’s thought, through his conversation or through the medium of another person.
e. Conversation of others Conversation of others is the conversation of other people about a character and the things they say about him.
f. Reaction Reaction is how a character reacts to various situations and events.
g. Direct comment Direct comment is a direct description or comment given by the author on a person’s character.
h. Thoughts Thoughts are direct knowledge of what a person is thinking about, which are given by the author. The author can directly tell the reader what different people are thinking.
13 i. Mannerism Mannerism is a character mannerisms, habits, or idiosyncrasies which may also tell the reader something about a character (1972:161-173)
Literature and society are two things which cannot be separated. Wellek and Warren in Theory of Literature state that ‘literature ‘represents’ ‘life’; and ‘life’ is, in large measure, a social reality, even though the natural world and the inner or subjective world of the individual have also been objects of literary ‘imitation’’ (1956: 94). In other words, it can be said that literature is a representation of life as social reality.
Used as social document, literature can be made to yield the outline of social history (1956: 94). Here Wellek and Warren give some example of literary works which can be seen as outline of social history.
The prologue to the Canterbury Tales was early seen to offer an almost complete survey of social types. Shakespeare in the Mary Wives of
Windsor, Ben Johnson in several plays, and Thomas Deloney seem to tell
us something about the Elizabethan middle class. Addison, Fielding, and Smollett depict the new Bourgeoisie of the eighteenth century; Jane Austen, the country gentry and the country parsons early in the nineteenth century; and Trollope, Thackeray, and Dickens, the Victorian world. At the turns of the century, Galsworth shows us the English upper middle classes; Welsh, the lower middle classes; Bennett, the provincial towns (1956: 103)
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2. Theory of Literature and Society
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C. Review on History about Victorian Society and Woman in Victorian
SocietyThe main focus of this study is unmarried mother in Victorian society. That is why the writer gives the review on History about Victorian society and woman, including unmarried mother, in Victorian society. The concept will be useful for the writer in doing this study.
Before observing about the concept of woman in Victorian society, it will be better to know a brief explanation about Victorian society. Victorian society is a society of Victorian Era which was governed under the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901). It is also known as the time when people who lived in that society highly valued sexual purity of women. That was why the society never tolerated the existence of unmarried mothers who are not pure as women because they have child out of wedlock. In this study, the writer only focuses on England Victorian society since the setting of the novel mostly takes place in Eccleston, United Kingdom.
Victorian society is known as society which was very observant to rules which were also considered as the standard which should be obeyed by all people in the society. That is why it is said that its rules were rigid and strict. The term prudish is used very much in reference to this point in time. Morality of the Victorian era is based upon a group of principles or standard of moral conduct including practicing sexual restraint, zero acceptance of criminal activity and a stern demeanor. <http://www.victorian-era.org/victorian-era-morality.html>. Because the rules and standards were very strict, all people in Victorian society
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That is why Victorian society is known to be a hypocritical society because of it.
Another proof about the hypocrisy in Victorian society is stated by Robert
C. Long , M.D. in his essay Sexuality in The Victorian Era. The quotation below is the description of hypocrisy in Victorian society.
They sacrificed sincerity to propriety. Second, and worse, they pretended to be better than they were. They passed themselves off as being incredibly pious and moral. They talked noble sentiments and live quite otherwise. Finally, they refused to look at life candidly. They shut their eyes to whatever was ugly or unpleasant and pretended it didn’t exist. Conformity, moral pretension, and evasion, those were the hallmarks of Victorian hypocrisy. <http://www.innominatesociety.com/Articles/Sexuality%20In%20The%20 Victorian%20Era.htm> Hypocrisy is not the only thing which was found in Victorian society.
Religion is found to be another topic of Victorian society. Religion can be said as an example of social standard in Victorian society. It was an important part of people in Victorian society. Tregidgo, states that Victorian society is a society which is very religious. He said that the family virtues were a part of religion, for the Victorians were extremely religious. Every family had its Bible and went to church on Sundays (1971:105). The statement of Tregidgo means that people in Victorian society were so religious and the religion that they believe in is Christianity. Being religious then was also a standard which should be fulfilled by all members of Victorian society.
Women in Victorian society had some requirements given by the society which become the standard requirements that should be obeyed. It can be said that these requirements were based on the society’s agreement. In the Victorian
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society, the place of women was at home. It is stated by Helen Nickson in her article entitled “Life of Women in the Victorian Era”.
The only role of women in the Victorian era was to get married and look after the homely chores. The young ladies were groomed thoroughly to get married and had to be innocent, virtuous, biddable, and dutiful. The young women were mainly educated in accomplishments like French, drawing, painting, singing, dancing - everything which helped them to get a perfect suitor! <http://ezinearticles.com/?Life-of-Women-in-the-Victorian- Era&id=2359711> (22 September 2010)
Young women in the Victorian Era grew up just to get married. They were educated to be able in many things to attract men in the hope to get a perfect suitor as their future husband. The examples of educations stated in the quotation above are; some foreign language such as French, drawing, painting, singing, and dancing. As a matter of fact, it was actually unfortunate because not all women in Victorian society were lucky to get all of those educations. Most educations could be obtained by those who were rich.
It is also known from the quotation above that Victorian young women were also taught to be innocent, virtuous, biddable, and dutiful. After they become a mother, their job was at home to look after the homely chores. From all standards, all were given for a certain purpose, which was to educate those Victorian women so that they could behave according to the standard of Victorian society.
There were some phenomenons related to women found in Victorian society. The first phenomenon is governess. The fact about governess in Victorian society is stated in an essay entitled The Victorian Governess, Status
Incongruence in Family and Society, written by M. Jeanne Peterson, which is put
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together with several other essays in a book entitled Suffer and be still: Women in the Victorian Age, edited by Martha Vinicus.
In the mid-nineteenth century usage, the term “governess” could refer to a woman who taught in a school, a woman who lived at home and travelled to her employer’s house to teach (called a daily “governess”), or a woman who lived in her employer’s home and who taught the children and served as a companion to them. (1972: 4) In Victorian society, there were some requirements that should be fulfilled so that a woman is qualified to be a governess in family.
The Victorian stereotype of the governess, which explained why a lady sought employment, was of a woman who was born and bred in comfort and gentility and who, through the death of her father or his subjection to financial ruin, was robbed of the support of her family and was driven to earn her own living. (p. 6)
It is actually not common for a woman who is gentility to earn living in Victorian society. As a matter of fact, under certain circumstance as stated previously in the quotation, a gentlewoman in Victorian society might have an employment. The function of a governess hired by parents in Victorian society is actually to teach their daughters the genteel accomplishments which were the aims of female education (p. 5). That was why governess was actually an employment that not all women in Victorian society were able to get.
Unmarried mother was another phenomenon found in the Victorian society as a sign of failure in fulfilling the standards given by the society. Besides the standards of Victorian woman which are already stated previously, Victorian woman had another standard where she should keep her sexual purity because the highest virtue of the Victorian woman was sexual purity and adultery was the worst of all the possible sins (Tregidgo, 1971:105). They might not do any sexual
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activity before they get married and they would be considered as sinner if they committed adultery.
Based on the previous quotation, unmarried mother, who was also part of Victorian society, was considered to be improper according to Victorian standard since unmarried mother is a woman who has had sexual conduct before married.
Thus, it then violates the standard of Victorian society. Being an unmarried woman was an offense to the value of sexual purity held highly by the society. In the same book, Tregidgo states about unmarried mother in Victorian society.
…the shame attached to becoming a mother before being married. If this does occur, a quick marriage is often arranged with the man responsible. If this is impossible, the officer may bring considerable shame to the girl’s parents as well as to herself, and they sometimes arrange to have the child legally adopted elsewhere’ (1971: 38)
From the quotation above, it is known that when a woman is pregnant before she is married, a marriage should be arranged as soon as possible before the shame is attached to her and her parents. One thing which was very unfortunate is that the child from any pregnancy out of wedlock was often sent to other place far from the mother just because they did not want to be ashamed by the existence of the child.
Still related to the standard of woman in Victorian society, another phenomenon in Victorian society was the existence of a mistress. Since sexual purity was a very important thing for Victorian women, becoming a mistress was also unacceptable in Victorian society. Pauline Weston Thomas states that:
Even in high places Victorian men kept mistresses, but they still expected their wives or mistresses to be faithful whatever their own misdemeanours. If a women took a lover it was not made public. If it did
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become public knowledge she would be cut by society. But men could amble along to one of their gentleman's clubs and always find a warm welcome <http://www.fashion-era.com/a_womans_place.htm> (22 September 2010).